Energy

Trump Wants To Use More ‘Clean Coal,’ Sean Spicer Says

(Photo credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

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Michael Bastasch DCNF Managing Editor
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White House press secretary Sean Spicer emphasized President Trump’s support for “clean coal” after a Virginia-based reporter asked about what the president is doing to meet his campaign promises.

“If we bring back this industry we can do it in a way that’s environmentally friendly,” Spicer told reporters at the White House press briefing Wednesday.

Trump won overwhelming support from coal country voters, in no small part due to his pledge to support the coal industry by rolling back Obama-era environmental regulations.

Trump released an “America First Energy Plan” shortly after taking office that promises to repeal President Obama’s “Climate Action Plan.”

“The Trump Administration is also committed to clean coal technology, and to reviving America’s coal industry, which has been hurting for too long,” reads the plan.

Spicer echoed Trump’s energy plan, emphasizing Trump wanted to burn more coal in an eco-friendly manner.

“The president is working with industry — to do that in a way that’s environmentally friendly,” Spicer said.

Spicer also pointed to newly-released Energy Department data projected increased coal use in 2017 due to higher natural gas prices, but that same data showed coal production 18 percent in 2016.

In the long-run, however, coal’s share of electricity generation is projected to continue to shrink.

Data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) shows another 12 gigawatts of coal-fired power plant retirements are on the way. About 7 gigawatts of coal-fired power was retired in 2016 due to environmental regulations and competitively-priced natural gas.

The vast majority of U.S.-produced coal is used to generate electricity, so more power plant closures don’t bode well for coal mining companies.

Coal country has remained cautiously optimistic about Trump being able to turn the coal industry around, but may admit reducing regulations would be helpful.

“At least we’ve got a shot at it under Trump,” Jeff Keffer, CEO of Longview Power, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in January.

“If Clinton had won, the requirements of the Clean Power Plan and the inability to replace old plants would have eventually just killed coal entirely in the 2020s,” Keffer said. “There’d be a few plants like ours which would have continued, but coal would have disappeared as an industry in the U.S.”

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